Series Review: My Princess

A rom-com Korean drama with Song Seung-hun and Kim Tae-hee? And featuring the writer for Secret Garden? Why has it even taken this long for something so genius to even cultivate? However, while the premise for My Princess had all the makings of an epic romantic comedy and showed great promise in its early episodes, the drama's shortcomings led to its waning popularity.
My Princess follows Lee Seol (Kim Tae-hee), a spunky Law student who's in love with her professor Nam Jung-woo (Ryu Soo-young) and is money-hungry with an equally scheming personality. She runs into diplomat/chaebol heir Park Hae-young (Song Seung-hun) and uses him in a scheme to win over Jung-woo – and away from the professor's “rumored” love, museum curator Oh Yoon-joo (Park Yejin), who is actually betrothed to Hae-young. However, while one day she's dreaming of flying to Egypt in hopes of having a romantic rendevous with her precious professor, she finds out one day she is a princess. Her life changes in a blink of an eye and she's set up with Hae-young to transform into a princess. Of course, her journey isn't going to be easy, as she's met with quite a bit of opposition – including Hae-young himself.
You could imagine my disappointment when the drama failed to take on the opportunities of providing some hilarious royal hijinks or sickeningly sweet moments between the two very good looking leads. Even though My Princess tacked on a decent amount of cute fluff in the final episodes, I felt like the overload of angst and a slow developing storyline was the reason why the show couldn't win its top spot back with ratings. Both Seung-hun and Tae-hee are well known for starring in melodramatic Korean dramas and I'm not sure if the writers wanted to keep banking on that. Either way, this drama sure wasn't full of sunshine and rainbows the whole way.
However, the drama wasn't a total failure. I'm making a declaration to Korean drama producers for the future: please, don't let this dream pairing end here! Both actors are not well known for their acting chops in their previous works, but I found that taking on rom-com roles came more naturally to them. I mean, Song Seung-hun can LOOK like a BAMF, but lacks the emotional depth to fully develop his role in a serious drama. I thought Kim Tae-hee played the role of a complete ditz with an overactive mind quite perfectly. I loved how she carried Lee Seol throughout the drama, providing the much needed comic relief – and also the very reason why Park Hae-young finally breaks down his angst and just allows himself to fall in love with her character.
With that said, while I complained about there not being enough cutesy stuff, the undeniable chemistry between the two leads left me just want more because there wasn't enough of it! The tension just oozed off the screen whenever they bickered, kissed, or bore into each other's eyes. In the moment where Hae-young finally confesses to Seol (after waiting hours outside her door) and she opens the door, only to fall right into his arms and finally give the audience that kind of steamy kiss we've all been waiting for. This strong chemistry can carry dramas and even possibly, have a cult following. Had the writers/producers hadn't dragged on the storyline and focused more on their romantic relationship, it would have been much more popular.
In addition, the two supporting characters, Jung-woo and Yoon-ju, who both play ex-lovers and enemies to each other (as Jung-woo supports Seol and Yoon-ju is against her inheriting the throne and fortune), are also a nice addition to the cast. I would have loved to see Jung-woo and Hae-young bicker with each other more often, but of course, that didn't happen. Yoon-ju's character was very easily disliked, but it also felt like she cut slack after all her unjustifiable actions. Either way, both actors made their characters very effective.
In the end, I would still recommend it for fans of SSH and KTH. It's definitely lacking in plot development, but it's also not a waste of the pretty. I'd still fully support a second season of My Princess if they just followed Lee Seol and Park Hae-young in a season full of royal hijinks, fluffiness, and just a tinge of angst.